Feature
The New Plat du Jour: Leftovers
RECYCLING, THE PROCESS OF PUTTING waste materials to new uses, has been a common practice for most of human history; Plato advocated it way back in 400 BC. But it became a central and urgent concern in the modern world in the late 1960s and ’70s because of the massive amounts of waste that industrial economies were producing. Soon, just recycling wasn’t sufficient. In the 1990s William McDonough and Michael Braungart began preaching the doctrine of cradle to cradle. It wasn’t enough to reuse; they proposed a closed loop, creating products that may be continually reused and recycled. Today, that concept has morphed into the now-popular circular economy, a business philosophy that aims to move industry from a take-make-dispose model to one where materials are continuously repurposed. New technology has been essential. But designers from around the world have seized the moment and are taking the concept into new territories.
Cutting a Rug
Vlisco, the leading Dutch producer of batik-printed fabrics for the African market, discards any material that doesn’t meet its quality standards, resulting in a lot of waste. Simone Post, a young textile designer, delved into the company’s piles of rejected materials and came up with an arresting solution: using folding and cutting techniques, she was able to turn discarded remnants into colorful patterned carpets— each one unique, with endless possible color combinations. The rugs are sold by Label/Breed, a Dutch company that specializes in what it describes as “collaboration for innovation”—seeking to create something not only new but also sustainable.
simonepost.nl / labelbreed.nl
Rug by Simone Post for Label/Breed, 2015, made from recycled batik-printed fabrics by Vlisco. Courtesy Label/Breed
